Harry the Goldfish
by Lizzie Weasley
Summary: Eight year old Ron has a problem. Ginny has just gotten a perfectly good goldfish, but she is convinced he is suffering from depression. What's an older brother to do?


(**A/N) Well just earlier I decided to write another story when I was taking a shower. The idea for this fic was very suddenly sprung upon me while I was almost finished washing my hair. …No idea how, but, yeah, these type of things happen sometimes. Also I realized when I reread my fic today, I really like writing in first person. I really, really do. I know there are a lot of people who absolutely abhor the idea of first person but I think I prefer it actually.**

**So anyway, yeah, also I have a little story to tell you of what happened to me the other day, but I'll wait till my next AN to tell you. Sorry for wasting all this space and your time.**

**Love from Lizzie**

**Oh BTW this is not an addition to the FM collection. This is only a random one-shot about Ron and Ginny's sibling…ness, I guess you'd call it. It's sweet. I hope you like it.**

**…Anyway…**

**(Disclaimer) Sorry. I'm no JK.**

**Harry the Goldfish**

I dropped down to my knees on the old brown carpet of my bedroom and dug deep underneath my bed for the one thing I had been anticipating all afternoon. I felt the dusty box with the tips of my fingers and in an instant jerked the yellowish box with the brown lid slid from the dust and clutter. I didn't even stop to think before I threw the lid to the side and looked down upon them, a smile beaming greatly on my face. Inside was my most prized possessions, the collection of all collections. The first six official Chudley Cannons action figures. I ran my hands across the six orange robed players as I sat there in awe. And shaking with anticipation, I set them in a neatly straight line on the upside-down box bottom. I watched them proudly as they dusted off their uniforms and stood beaming back at me with painted on faces.

But there was still just one thing missing, my most favourite player of them all. Frank Ashington, the Cannons' Keeper and Captain. That was where my second box came in.

It was like a tradition in our family. Every summer before my brother's went to school, all of us would go shopping in Diagon Alley and those who hadn't started at Hogwarts could pick out a present of their own while the others shopped for new school things. I had known from the start what I was going to get, and anticipated it all week long. This would also be the best present yet! The king of all surprises! The masterpiece of all action figures!

Fred and George kept nagging at me, saying an eight-year-old boy shouldn't be allowed to play with dolls, but I knew without a doubt they were only jealous. They just wanted a set of their own and I knew it just as well as they did. So really I didn't mind them. I knew they hated school even more when they watched me handed the shopkeeper my money.

I tore open the wrapper and pulled out a neatly polished, hand crafted model of Frank and set him down next to his team-mates. They all welcomed the newcomer most openly and I shortly began to set up for the very first and best inner-team championship match that was to take place in my bedroom. Well the best of that afternoon anyway.

I was just about to sit back and watch when a shrill shriek rang through the air and caused me to jump up in shock and knock every single player out of position and hurled across the room.

I rolled my eyes recognizing it to being Ginny's. She seemed to have been doing that a lot lately. Screaming out when she wanted attention. This time it was _my_ name she called.

Of course…

Everyone must ruin any of Ron's special moments! He must never have any for himself! Cursed be the time he has to actually _enjoy anything_!

Another shrilly piercing screaming and I began to mutter a series of the new words Fred and George had taught me the week before as they seemed to fit the situation. But then I remember the taste of that soap Mum had forced into my mouth that afternoon and bit my tongue. I'm not sure if Fred and George ever laughed as hard as they had when Mum heard those words come from my lips. So I grudgingly trudged out of my room and stamped fitfully down every last stair until I reached the demon's room making sure everyone realized how much I really wanted to leave my match.

I stormed in with a towering temper and I swung open the door, banging it against the wall. "What!" I exclaimed in my tantrum and made a deathly staring face. But before I even had a chance to see what was taking place in front of me, a small body pummelled me in the stomach and I had to grip the doorknob to keep from falling over.

"Ginny! You're getting my shirt all wet! Stop!" I said in exasperation trying my best to wrench her arms from my waist but she only seemed to hold me even tighter and sob even louder. I sent Fred and George the ugliest eyes I could seem to create at the time knowing it had to have been them to make her cry that way. I couldn't seem to find any other logical reason at the time being. The twins however shook their heads in denial and I couldn't understand what else it could be.

"Oh, Ron! Ron, it's horrible!" Ginny cried burying her face even deeper in my chest. "It's so horrible!"

"What's so horrible?" I asked hesitantly looking from Fred to George to Percy who were all sitting on the bed, the twins looking amused and Percy, a bit annoyed.

"It's Harry!" Ginny wept. She pulled back from my arms and looked me dead in the eyes with her own red ones. Her mouth started to tremble and she started to hiccup. "He's…he's…he's…" She paused. Her eyes welled up in tears. And then… she started crying again.

I once again felt totally lost and looked over at my brothers then back down at Ginny's red head. "Who's Harry?" I asked uncertainly. Ginny rubbed her hand across her nose and sniffed.

Percy, Fred, and George all nodded towards the new fish tank and Ginny's brand new goldfish she had bought that afternoon.

"We tried to tell her there was no such thing as a fish with hair, but does she listen? NO!" Fred said with his arms crossed around his chest as he hurled with laughter.

Ginny glared at the twins in disgust. "He's named after Harry Potter for your information!" She said in a you-are-such-an-idiot type of attitude.

Harry seemed about right. Ginny had seemed rather attached to the story of Harry Potter since dad told us the story the first time.

"So what's wrong with Harry?" I sighed exasperatedly. I could tell whatever it was that had happened, wasn't going to be too bad due to Percy's face.

"Harry's depressed, Ron! He misses all his friends at the pet store and doesn't even move anymore!" She sniffed loudly and rubbed a hand over her tear stained eyes. "All he does is float there. Just look at him."

Ron looked over to the bowl and watched as the fish bobbed in the water. He looked just like every other fish. Take it from Ginny to find something dreadfully wrong with a perfectly healthy fish.

"Ginny, he doesn't miss his friends," Percy sighed, rolling his eyes irritably.

Ginny turned to Percy sharply and gave him a fierce piercing glare. "How do you know, Percy? You don't know that!"

Percy rolled his eyes again and then adjusted his glasses on his nose importantly. He must have thought he looked smart when he did that. "For a matter of fact, Ginny, goldfish loose their memories every five seconds much less he remember his fish friends from the pet shop. So, obviously, he can't possibly remember the other fish."

Ginny shot more daggers at him through her vicious brown eyes and dropped down to her knees before the fishbowl.

"You still remember me don't you, Harry?" Ginny said with a baby-like air in her voice. Then Ginny's eyes widened greatly in the fishbowls reflection before she started to yell. "Percy! He still remembers me, Percy, look! He still knows how to say my name just like I taught him! Watch, Percy, he's doing it again!"

The fish never moved. He floated there in the exact spot and continued doing exactly as he had been doing the whole time before. And still in all, Ginny looked more excited than anything.

Percy knelt down beside Ginny and watched to fish in concentration, making sure he hadn't possibly missed something Ginny had seen. Nonetheless he hadn't and yet again rolled his eyes. Ginny started making fish faces at the glass and kept repeating her name over and over again.

Fred and George couldn't help but do the one thing I kept from doing myself- they busted out laughing and took off from the room to stop from full-fledged howling. Ginny would have hated me forever if I had laughed at her just then and I'm glad I hadn't.

"Oh yes, I see it now," Percy whispered sarcastically. "How dim-witted can I be?"

Ginny beamed at them all and it seemed that finally their problem was solved, but her face fell again and she turned sadly back to Harry.

"But he's still so lonely. He doesn't have any friends anymore. There all gone and he'll never see them again," Ginny said softly, placing a hand against the glass. "He'll never be happy ever again."

Percy stood up from the bed just as I sat down in Fred's empty spot and he marched over to the doorway.

"Well, Gin, then I suggest you find him one. Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you." And then he left.

I brushed my feet back and forth across the carpet, making patterns in the fibers where my feet drug. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't know what else to tell her. What else could I have said anyway?

I stood from the bed and watched Ginny's back as I left the room. She started making fish faces at the goldfish again and wagged a finger at the bowl.

I turned the knob Ginny had painted purple years before and stepped into the hall. I gently started to shut it behind myself when I paused and heard her whisper, "I'll find you a friend, Harry. No matter what happens, I'll find you a friend. He'll be big and strong, and nice, and smart and the bestest best friend you'll ever have. But you can't have Ron… 'cause he's _my_ best friend. But I'll find someone else for you. I promise I will, Harry."

I stood in awe for a minute or two and heard the word pronounce themselves over and over again on the inside of my head.

Did she really believe _I_ was her best friend?

It had always been Ginny and me ever since we were little. But I never once thought of her as my _best friend_. Of course we always did everything together and we were never seen apart, but I had grown up now. I was a big kid, and I could be Fred and George's new friend. If they'd let me…

But it was Ginny who was always the most fun, the one who made me laugh, and the one I felt sure I needed to protect. But did that really mean we were best friends?

She was just a little girl! A small, giggling, annoying, can-never-get-away-from, pestering, tower tempered, mud plastered, doll dressing, six year old _girl_. She was always on my nerves and I could never get her off my back. She followed my every move and wanted to do everything I did. She stole my toys, had to have everything exactly like mine, and begged to play with me _all the time_. She was the largest annoyance that ever walked this earth.

…And that's why I loved her.

I walked slowly back up to my room and pictured Ginny sitting there by the fish bowl talking to her goldfish. She was so alone now. Was she really friendless now that I decided to grow up?

…Did I really make her hurt?

I set up my Cannons players again on my mat and watched as they hovered a little off the carpet on their old Shooting Stars. Frank guarded a little hoop I set up on the end and the Keepers set up for the play. They all seemed so eager to start. I picked up Frank in my right hand and looked at his face in admiration. He was the best present I had ever received. He was absolutely perfect.

I stood up from the carpet and practically ran from the room down to Ginny's door.

"Ginny open up!" I said as I knocked on the door. "I have something for you and Harry!"

The doorknob turned and a smiling face peered at me in the doorframe.

"A surprise…for me?" Ginny asked a red eager glow on her freckled face.

I nodded in pride and placed Frank in the palm of her tiny hand. If I couldn't be the best friend of a fish I sure as well could find another one to make Ginny happy. That's all I wanted to do. Make her happy.

Ginny looked from the Quidditch player in her palm then up at me, smiling in the sweetest way I never thought possible. "Thanks, Ron," she whispered as she smiled yet again. "You're the bestest brother ever!" My heart burst in absolute joy when her little arms grabbed me up in the most unsurpassed hug I ever received in my life and I squeezed her tight in return. I had forgotten how great it was to be hugged by my baby sister and I told myself to never forget again. No, I promised to never forget how great of a best friend I had been given ever again.

"Come on then!" she squealed suddenly taking me by the hand and leading me over to Harry's fishbowl. "We're taking Harry to his new home."

I looked down at her puzzled. "New home?" I said curiously. "But I thought-"

"We're going to set him and his new friend free!"

And then she turned away from me and raced back over to her fish bowl. With a small splash and a few drops of water falling from over the rim, Ginny grabbed the bowl in her arm and dragged me out the door with her other hand.

"We are?" I asked uncertainly as we raced into the kitchen and out the back door, but undoubtedly, even though she didn't answer, I _was _going along for the ride.

Ginny raced us through the thicket of trees and down the path we took on our 'great adventures' and over to a small creek in which every member of the Weasley family had at one time called their own.

This time it was Ginny's turn.

I watched her sit on the creek's grassy bank as she lowered the bowl into steady flowing stream.

"There," she said in a small sigh as we both watched Harry swim around a bit, just below the surface of the crystal clear water. Ginny's face lit of more than ever at that fish and waved a small hand at him when he started to swim away along the flowing water. Ginny stood up by me and smiled and then a look of surprise over passed her. "Almost forgot!" she exclaimed and took out Frank from her shirt pocket. She tossed him into the water and I had to watch as he bobbed there for a minute before chasing after Harry down the creek. And then that was all. I never saw him again.

Ginny sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder. She seemed to be very skeptical about something. "Ron, do you think they'll be friends forever?" Ginny asked from my side. I watched her there as she watched the creek pass us by and I smiled to myself. I took her little hand in my own and gave it a small squeeze as I held my baby sister next to me. "Yeah, Gin, I do." She looked at me with those soft brown eyes and I felt my own burn. "They'll be best friends forever."

I watched my favorite present slide down the river with a goldfish named Harry that summer afternoon. But I'll never regret watching it bob in the water before it floated away. Maybe it was because of the fact that when I gave it to Ginny I got an even better one in return.

…My best friend.

-o-

**(A/N) So yeah, anyway. Friday I could have been killed and you would have never even seen this fic, you know that right. I got in an accident and smashed the front of my car into 4 thousand dollars worth of damage. Actually, no, this little old lady did. She came from the side road stop sign looking in the opposite direction and didn't even attempt to look my way. I slammed on my brake swerved the other way, but as she still kept coming, she slammed into my poor beautiful car. I couldn't stop it; she came out when it was too late to stop.**

**And this made me wonder. How would you all ever know if I suddenly died? You wouldn't and this makes me scared to think about. I made my sister promise to put a story online announcing my death if the time ever came. But really it makes me think. **

**…And it scares me even more.**

**shutter So yeah, just a story I'd like to share. When I get my pictures developed (because my digital camera is now at rest in the trashcan) I'll show you all a picture. But until then, be thankful. I know I am.**

**Love from Lizzie**


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